An Aladdin moment and an Irish weekend.

I've been having weird headaches lately.  Not for real headaches because I've never gotten one of those.  (Really, I haven't.) I've only gotten squinting headaches after I've been out in the sun for too long without sunglasses.  So that's what I've been having lately.  Squinting headaches.  But I don't remember any recent squinting.

I for sure thought I was dying.  Brain tumor, perhaps. 

Well, while laying in bed trying to fall asleep last night, I had a thought. 
"When was the last time I put new contacts in?"
I'm supposed to change them every 3 months.  Well...it usually becomes 5 or 6.  (Sorry, mom) So this morning I checked my little box and it said I was supposed to change them the beginning of February.  Figures. 

So I put new ones in this morning....and I may or may not have started singing Aladdin's "A Whole New WOOORRLDDD!!"

Life changing. 

So...no more squinting headaches.

So now that you all can rest assured I'm brain tumor free, let me tell you about my weekend. It was probably the best weekend in Colorado, yet. 

Right after work on Saturday I met up with Michele (who I met through Alex) for St. Patty's Day. 

At first I went to the wrong building.  That was embarrassing. 

Texting convo--
Me: "I'm here! Right by the stage!"
5 mins later...
Michele: "I looked everywhere for you, I can't find you!"
Me: "Well, where are YOU??"
Michele: "I'm on the right side when looking at the band"
Me: "I'M on the right side when looking at the band!"
Me again: "Wait...am I at the right place...?"

You win, Downtown Denver.

So eventually I did end up finding her.  And then we left and took this picture. 

This guy was super annoying.  He wouldn't look at the camera unless I kissed him on the cheek.  No way, creepy-man-in-a-lepruchan-wizard-outfit!  Nice try, though.  

So...instead, we got this awesome, really awkward picture!

Then on Sunday, I went with Alex over to Michele's for a Thanksgiving/Easter/St. Patty's Day meal.  It...was amazing.  Mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, cupcakes, the whole nine yards.  Michele, you will be a fabulous grandma someday ;)

After that we went over to another one of Alex's friends' houses (She's literally been my social-lifesaver since my move.  I owe her big time). And played cards for a few hours.  Then the people we were with had to get ready to go play in a 10pm rec league soccer game.  So we decided to go watch. 

Well, we get in the car...and they say they could use another girl.  So somehow I am now PLAYING in this game.  I am suddenly a Goodwill store in human form.  I get shorts and tennis shoes from one guy, a sports bra from his girlfriend, and soccer socks and shin guards from another guy.  

Game on.

 Me.  Waiting patiently for my turn to sub in.  

I was a nervous wreck. 

The game was actually pretty intense.  The other girls on the team played soccer in college.  And the guys were really good. So much fun.  Even came out with a win!
Thanks for letting me play, guys!

The next day, Alex and I woke up early and went for an 8 mile run. 

We saw a house on fire.  It was probably 2+ miles away, and we got there the same time as the firetrucks did.  If my apt ever starts on fire in Denver....I'm calling Jimmy Johns. 

So, I ran 8 miles less than 12 hours after playing soccer for the first time in 5+ years.  Maybe coulda planned that one a little better. The next two days I was so unbelievably sore.  I even was neaseus. Felt very similar to how I was after my first half marathon.  Working was brutal.  Oh well, it was worth it. 

I took the next two days off from running.  Then today I decided to run 5 miles on my lunch break.  I found a new route by work..which I was pumped about because our warehouse is near a sorta sketchy area.  We're also jus right down the road from a nice lil marijuana dispensary. 

Dream job, eh?

New route.  Less sketch.

In other news, next week I get to go to Boston for work to help with a Caregiver Kit event. 
You can find out what that means here.  Super excited to help with and experience that!

Have I mentioned I love the organization I work for?

Then two days after we get back from that, I get to FLY TO MINNESOTA!!

I'm maybe a little bit excited about that, too.  

So get ready, friends. 
Roomie....better be ready to get your Punch in Pjs on. 
Bestie....I'm starting that playlist as soon as I publish this post. 
All my other MN people....I better see you all.  Make it happen. 

A Year of Quincy.

Happy Birthday to You!
Happy Birthday to You!
Happy Birthday Dear QUINCY!
Happy Birthday to You!!

In celebration of Quincy's first year of life...cue the photo montage of Quincy's first year. 

OOooOOohhh, little baby Quincy....here's the first picture I saw of him, when picking out which baby I wanted when my name FINALLY came up on the waiting list (I was on it for like 5 months).

Then, I drove to Fergus Falls to meet the breeder where I first saw my lil hedgie for the first time!! When driving away, I had a teeny tiny glimpse of what it's like to be a parent. 
I was thinking..."She trusts me with this lil guy? I have no idea what I'm doing!"

Quincy on the ride home for the first time!

Auntie Nicole had made a welcome home sign for him!

He has two of the best Aunties a hedgie could ever ask for. 

Auntie Dani and Auntie Nicole

First I was terrified of him and his spikes, but he and I quickly became bffs.

We like to play hide and seek.

And take glamour shots.

He even tried modeling for awhile.

Just kidding..but dang this would make me buy some OJ.


But he was too hard to work with.

He sometimes gets grumpy.


And then he had some weight issues.

Chunky hedgie.


He likes to take baths.

Aka, he hates them.

He likes to celebrate the holidays.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Merry Christmas!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

 And....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
To my little St. Patty's day baby, Quincy Patrick!

Birthday Kisses to Mr. Q!

 So...how is he celebrating his big day, you ask???

Chillin.

Whoopsies...

Well, today this happened.

I just BARELY...knicked the water pipe with a pallet today, and all of a sudden water started gushing at me.  Panic.  Jump off forklift.  Run.  MAX! DAVE!

I have never ran up stairs faster in my life.  And the whole time I was saying (well, not these words but something similar) SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT.

And on a normal day, I never swear. 

Burst through to the offices, no one.  Run to the kitchen.  MAX! "I.....just hit the water pipe with a pallet." "Serious?" "Yes." 

We both run back down the stairs faster than either one of us has. 

He sees a lever up top.  Tries it.  No luck. 

So now he has to run up 2 stories of the building to stop the main water line. 

He runs.  I take a picture. 

He gets it shut off.  He inspects.  It didn't even make a mark on the boxes, which meant the pipe for real was just barely knicked. 

We look at the pipe...totally corroded. 

He's a nice boss and tells me that it was so rusted through that he's glad it went now instead of just falling off and water gushing everywhere when no one was there to stop it. 

Thanks, Max. 

*Note, this could have been really bad, because Dave was off site, and Max had JUST gotten back from picking someone up at the airport.  And no one else was there...and I have NO idea where the main water line is.  Well, now I do.

Rest of the day? Driving forklift through puddles.

Getting called Little Mermaid by Max ("Under the Sea...").

They later tell me it's a good thing this happened because they were running short on things to tease me about. 

Well there ya go, guys.  Ammo for life.  Well, or until next time.

Hiking day bust.

Today I went hiking.  Sort of.  Well, I did...but I realized I'm not a very smart experienced adventurer.
Hey, I just moved here from MN...flatland USA.  Cut me some slack.

I decided last night that I wanted to go hiking today.  This meant that I would need to get up at 7 AM because first I needed to stop at the DMV.  Last time I stood in their line for two hours to get my CO license, they made a mistake.  They had forgotten to add my motorcycle endorsement. No way am I letting that one slide. So I woke up at 7:30 (hey, I had to press snooze a couple times...its my day off!), made myself an omelet, and I got there just 15 minutes after it opened and I was already 22nd in line.
 
I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  The DMV has to be one of the best places to people watch.  I don't really understand it.  Why are there such strange and interesting people here all the time? I guess strange and interesting people are everywhere, but you just notice them more when they're right there next to you and you have nothing else to do but stare at them.

Yes, I have a people-watching hobby with an occasional staring problem.  

Oh, DMV.  I love to watch your people, but I hate waiting in your lines.

About an hour and a half later...I'm headed towards the mountains.  I really wanted someone to go hiking with me, but the small handful of new friends I've made were all busy or working.  Boo.  But, at least I asked.  And out of that I got one friend to give me some tips on a few good places to hike.  I loved that because usually I just wander until I find a trail head.  Good for my spontaneous side, but bad for the part of any normal person that wants their 45 minute drive to actually be worth it.

Once I got to the park, I realized I had made a critical mistake.  I dressed for Denver weather (68 degrees)...not mountain weather (45).  Shorts and a t-shirt probably weren't going to cut it. 

But, hey, I'm from Minnesota. I'll tough it out.

So I grabbed a trail map and picked out which trail I would start on. 

Ponderosa Trail: Pleasant, serves as a connector to many other trails.
Wild Iris Loop: Pleasant meadow trail.
Bluebeard Meadow: Meadow trail with wildflowers and wildlife.
Bearberry: A gentle and shady trail that passes a historic homestead.


Did I choose any of those? Nope. 

Sisters Trail: Strenuous; weaves through large boulders.

Sisters Trail it is!

But really, it wasn't strenuous at all.  I mean it wasn't super easy but it definitely wasn't hard.  The thing I liked about it was there were boulders to climb along the way...(like the ones in the back of this next picture), so that was fun.

Just when I was having weak moment in the form of a pity party, thinking about how it was not so much fun to hike by myself....I overheard these people right behind me :)

Two 20-something guys that started with the Lion King song
...and probably had no idea anyone could hear them.  Gotta love it.

Another rookie mistake I made was not realizing that although all the snow in Denver is gone...there probably is still some up in the mountains.  Yep.

Almost half the trail was covered in mud or snow/ice.

Last time I went hiking on my day off there wasn't any snow at all on the trail, AND I overdressed.  But that trail wasn't as high up in the mountains. 

Once I finished the Sisters Trail loop, I did a couple other shorter ones.  But I was freezing and by that time I was trekking around with an extra 10 pounds of mud on my shoes...so I decided to just head back to Denver.  I was only up there for barely two hours.  So much for my day of hiking. 

When I got back to Denver I decided I was not going to let my hiking day bust get the best of me. 

I almost went running again, because yesterday I found a fun new trail close to my apartment when I did my 6 mile run.  But today is a Cross-train day...so I decided to be good and not run. 

Rollerblading it is!

Yes, helmets are cool.  Didn't you know?

So I rollerbladed.  And rollerbladed.  And just kept on rollerblading.  Not realizing that eventually I was going to have to turn around and cover all that ground again.  But I have this thing where I can't just stop on a trail without finding out where it goes.  This is why loops are good for me. And endless connecting trails in a brand new big city are bad.  Bad only because I didn't have any water with me, and I haven't rollerbladed in at least two years so I am going to be very sore. 

So I just kept on going until finally I got to a park with a water fountain. I didn't even realize I was thirsty until I saw it.  And I didn't even realize I was starting to get tired until I stopped.   Good one, Kirsten.

Good news is...I found a LAKE!

So, I turned around.  14.60 miles of rollerblading!  I was only planning on doing like...5. 

Oh well.  Good workout.  Maybe tomorrow will be a rest day :)

I'm glad I can go out and do stuff by myself...but being a loner is definitely getting old.
Maybe I need to get a dog. 

Speaking of pets.  Next weekend is Quincy's 1st birthday!!

He doesn't like birthday hats so much. 

Well, that's all for today.  I'm going to get me some Chipotle. 

Lemme see if I can Run it, Run it...

First full week of half marathon training: Complete.

I had kind of forgotten how much I love running. 
Like, really.  I love it.  I ran track and cross-country in high school, and since then have always kept running.

It's my thing. 

I get addicted to it.  I love the challenge of fighting through the longer runs.  I love the feeling of accomplishment when I finish them. As cheesy at it sounds, running really makes me feel alive.  It helps me feel like I am not just coasting through life.  It just gives me more energy and life during the day when I am consistently running.

This has been my computer background for awhile now...

I'm such a running nerd.

So I'm now training for my second half-marathon.  My goal for my first one was to do anything under 10 min miles, closer to 9 the better.  I wasn't pacing myself when I ran, so when I crossed the finish line and found out I had done 8:33 minute miles...I was pumped.  And then I ate a piece of free pizza someone handed me and I almost threw up. Why would they be giving out pizza after this? I guess they had fruit too.  Maybe I ate a banana first.  I don't remember.

So now I'm kind of mad at myself, because I can't run again and do worse than the first time.  However, even if I do, I guess I can blame the altitude.

Guess I better take this training seriously.
Both yesterday and today I ran 5 miles.  I wasn't planning on doing that.  It just sort of happened. Not that 5 miles two days in a row is alot when training...but I haven't been running much at all since I moved.

Backstory: So yesterday I looked up a new church to try.  That's probably one of the worst parts of moving...finding a good new church.  There are some C-r-a-z-y churches out there.  Well, I've loved the two Acts29 network churches (church plant network) that I've visited back in MN, so I decided to look some up in Denver.  I had tried the first two on the list, so this time I went with the third one.

I pull into the parking lot...and parked right next to me, is my friend Alex who I went to college with back in MN. I knew she went to a church downtown, but I didn't remember the name of it.  Also, I thought she was still up in the mountains where she had been snowboarding all weekend.  Well, turns out she had left early and made it in time for church!

Small world.

So after the service, we decided to go running together.   5 miles.  Check.  And it was a beautiful day out--mid 60s.  I'll take it.  As Alex said when we were done..."I love the feeling after a run, and its a beautiful day, and Taylor Swift is on the radio...."  Well said.

Then today I had the day off and it hit 70 degrees.  I obviously had to run again.  There's a trail close by called "Powerline Trail". It follows....a powerline.

Definitely not Lake Calhoun...but, look! Mountains! 
Very far away...but still.  Take what I can get.  

I didn't have a certain milage to hit, as today was supposed to be a rest day.  So I just started running.  Well, my lil gps running tracker thingy didn't work because of the powerline. First thought? I'm for sure gunna get cancer running under these things. 

So I downloaded MapMyRun, which is a better app anyway.  Then...I started running.

Well, I kept running til I hit the edge of the city.  I was greeted by hundreds of prairie dogs popping up and down.  Hi! Bye! Hi! Bye! Hi! Bye! I love those lil guys.  Maybe Quincy could use a friend...

 Most Boring Picture of the Year Award.

 But, look! Prairie dogs! (They're there...I promise..)

Well, I ended up running about 5 miles again.

Now my hip hurts.

Good one.

That's why there's a training plan.  To keep you from training too little....or too much. 

Oh well.  I'll learn that lesson eventually, hopefully before I start training for my first Full marathon I'm already signed up for this fall....gulp.

Anyway.  I'm happy that I'm back in training mode.  I like running.  Really, I do.  And if you read my last post you'll know I also like cookies.  Another thing I like about being in training mode is I don't have to worry about my weight much.  I know I've been super blessed in that area anyway...my 5'10-ness helps a lot with that.  But I can definitely feel the difference when I'm in shape vs. not. 

My mom sent me new workout clothes right before the Half last year.

I was pumped. 

And I ate all the cookies I wanted. 

So running and cookies go together really well actually.  And it's not just Girl Scout Cookies.  I feel like everyone has to talk about how much they like them.  It's like a rule.  You buy the Girl Scout Cookies--you eat them--and you tell everyone how awesome they are.  As if the rest of the world didn't already know.  But really, I like every kind of cookie.  Except store-bought M&Ms cookies.  To me they're like the red-headed stepchild of cookies. (No offense to red-heads or stepchildren.  Jesus loves you both.  It's just an analogy.  Don't hate me.) I also like chips and cream cheese on my carb-filled bagels.... and chocolate.

Which is why I choose to run.  Of course moderation is key.  Otherwise you don't have good fuel for your runs.....or you run too much, too soon, and you hurt your hip.  Stupid hip. 

Bottom line: If you come running with me.....or bring me cookies....or you are prairie dog, you will be my friend forever.  I'm easy to please.